In the past glass bodies such as glass plates have been perforated by drilling holes in the plate using bonded diamond drills or by using an ultrasonic tool in combination with an abrasive slurry. These methods are adequate and economically practical where the number of holes to be drilled through a glass plate is small. More recently, however, there has been a growing demand for glass plates perforated by dozens or hundreds of small circular holes. For example in the manufacture of solid state pressure transducers glass plates having 200 to 500 small circular holds accurately positioned in the glass plate are used. To produce such plates by mechanical drilling or ultrasonic drilling is time consuming and expensive.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a method for making multiple perforations and/or depressions in a glass work piece rapidly, accurately and efficiently.